Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times Barry Wain (grave mercy .TXT) 📖

fellow Muslims to vote for an opposition party, was considered during the debate.[106] Johore provided for caning and jail sentences for lesbians, prostitutes and pimps, and for those found guilty of sodomy, pre-marital sex and incest.[107] At a special meeting, UMNO agreed to introduce full Islamic law, including hudud in the state at an appropriate time.[108] In Pahang, all Muslim businesses were required to close during evening prayers, and in Malacca the state government issued an edict directing all female employees, non-Muslims included, not to reveal their elbows and knees.[109]

The federal government began monitoring mosques to ensure that the standard sermon was delivered, and to keep tabs on other activities. In 2001, 15 Muslims were charged in the sharia court for contravening an order by the Federal Territory Islamic Council regarding Friday prayers. It was a criminal offence, punishable by up to two years in jail or a hefty fine, to pray separately from the main congregation or question the authority of the imam leading the prayers — a PAS tactic. Although there was no basis in Islam for criminalizing such disobedience, a version of the law was enacted in many states.[110]

An attempt to force PAS to drop its Islamic banner failed when the Council of Rulers, consisting of the nine sultans who have authority over religion in their states, denied a federal government request to ban Islam from the names of political parties. The government kept the heat on PAS in threatening to criminalize the party's "religious extremism" by using the Penal Code, which prohibits uttering words to deliberately wound religious feelings or cause disharmony. In another move to check "extremism" — and PAS — Dr. Mahathir in late 2002 halted state funding for private Islamic schools, hoping to strangle them financially and encourage their student body of up to 100,000 to attend "national" schools instead.[111]

Having abandoned its historically moderate position in the course of the struggle with PAS for Islamic legitimacy, UMNO teetered on the brink of radicalism. On 29 September 2001, two weeks after Islamic terrorists mounted devastating suicide attacks on New York and Washington, Dr. Mahathir stepped off the cliff by declaring Malaysia an "Islamic state". Although he had often said the same thing before, and he no doubt sought to outflank PAS tactically after declaring all-out support for the United States in the "war on terror" that followed "September 11", Dr. Mahathir was serious this time. He made the announcement at a meeting of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, an UMNO coalition partner, and called a gathering of all National Front members to endorse the move. He later told Parliament that Malaysia was a "fundamentalist Islamic state".

Although Dr. Mahathir claimed that the leaders of the coalition component parties were "comfortable" with his concept, his declaration caused an uproar throughout the country, which the mainstream press consciously ignored. Much of the concern was expressed in closed-door meetings or anonymously on the Internet. Senior government officials insisted it was a matter of semantics, that nothing had changed in terms of policy or law, and nor would there be any change.[112] In reality, Dr. Mahathir's announcement increased UMNO-PAS friction and made life more problematic for Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and other religious minorities, comprising 40 per cent of the population. The Information Department distributed a booklet, "Malaysia is an Islamic State", giving four supporting definitions by ulama which the government mistakenly assumed would end the debate.[113] Instead, the publication inflamed the situation by clearly relegating non-Muslims to a secondary position, and eventually was withdrawn.[114] Government officials sought to reassure non-Muslims that they were protected by the constitutional guarantee of freedom of worship, but that was cold comfort in view of Dr. Mahathir's frequent amendment of the Constitution for political reasons.

Under pressure to produce an operational blueprint for its own proposed Islamic state, PAS released a document at the end of 2003 that reinforced the party's hardline image. Until then, PAS had been able to tiptoe around the subject by pointing to its constitution, which identified the party's objective as a vague and more benign "Islamic society". Any chance of persuading the public that PAS's Islamic state would be moderate was lost when Fadzil Mohamad Noor, the party's accommodative president, died in 2002 and was replaced by the conservative Abdul Hadi Awang, chief minister of Trengganu. While the PAS plan did not specifically mention a theocratic state, the press portrayed it otherwise,[115] and Hadi's advocacy of hudud and death for apostasy in Trengganu gave the party an uncompromising face. Although PAS condemned the "September 11" attacks, a party initiative to declare non-violent jihad against the United States after its invasion of Afghanistan, together with its support for al-Qaeda's Osama bin Laden and the Mullah Omar-led Taliban regime, further battered the party's reputation as a responsible, democratic movement dedicated to gradualist change.[116]

Confusing matters, Dr. Mahathir started referring to himself as a "Muslim fundamentalist", somehow identifying with the Islamists against whom he had long waged ideological war. Of course, Dr. Mahathir had not changed his outlook. His facile explanation, "I follow the fundamentals of the Muslim religion", betrayed a tactical objective. By describing himself as a fundamentalist, Dr. Mahathir was taking a jab at the West over its preference for "moderate" as opposed to "fundamentalist" Muslims in the "war on terror", and displaying his unhappiness with the West's negative portrayal of Islam generally. It helped get his tough message across in the Muslim world and afforded him some political protection in Malaysia against the stridently anti-American PAS.

Most non-Muslim Malaysians ignored such rhetoric and rallied behind Dr. Mahathir as the extent of the global terrorists threat became apparent and the government's policy of detaining Islamic extremists appeared vindicated. But the Malays remained as divided as ever over Dr. Mahathir. As soon as he retired in October 2003, his successor did what was required to win an imminent election: Abdullah Badawi waged rhetorical war on corruption, cancelled huge infrastructure projects and acted as if Reformasi was his natural platform. His greatest assets were his